HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Chris Perry poured in game-highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead 16th-ranked Lincoln Memorial to an 87-67 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Tusculum at Tex Turner Arena.
The Railsplitters (19-4, 14-3 SAC) record their ninth consecutive victory and move within one game of SAC-leading Queens University of Charlotte, who lost at Wingate on Wednesday.
Tusculum stays in ninth place in the league standings and is one game behind eighth-place Anderson for the final spot to qualify for next month's SAC Tournament. TC will be at Coker on Saturday for a 4 p.m. rematch with the Cobras. Tusculum posted a 99-83 win over Coker earlier this season in Greeneville.
LMU sweeps the season-series over the Pioneers (10-13, 7-10 SAC) and records its 20th consecutive victory over their in-state rivals from Greeneville.
Perry finished the game shooting 10-of-14 from the floor, while teammate Luquon Choice also finished with a double-double with his 11 points and 10 boards.
Kendall Patterson led the Pioneers with his 18 points as he went 6-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-7 from three-point territory. Chase Mounce added 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to go along with his team-best eight rebounds. Mounce has scored 1,218 career points which are tied for 14th most in program history with former All-SAC guard Pat Compton (1999-2003).
Ronnie Baylark added 10 points for the Pioneers, while Zach Davis and Trey Blevins posted seven markers each in the loss.
In the first five minutes of the game, as the lead changed hands four times with Tusculum taking a 13-12 advantage following a Baylark lay-up at the 14:39 mark of the half. LMU answered with 11 unanswered points to move out to a 23-13 lead on a Paul Woodson tip-in with 11:09 left in the period.
TC scored six straight including a jumper from Davis as TC trailed 23-19 with 8:46 to go in the half. With LMU leading 28-24 the home team opened up a 15-4 run to give the Splitters their largest lead of the half at 43-28 with 48 seconds before halftime. Mounce knocked down a pair of free throws just before the intermission as LMU led 43-30 heading to the locker room.
The Pioneers whittled the LMU lead down to seven at 51-44 thanks to a 14-8 spurt in the first 5:26, sparked by a Patterson three-pointer and back-to-back jumpers from Mounce.
But LMU opened the lead back to double digits with a 9-2 run to go up 66-50 and later exploded on an 18-4 run to put the game out of reach at 87-60 with 2:12 on the clock.
LMU finished the game shooting 49.2 percent from the floor, including 15-of-28 (53.6%) in the second half. Tusculum ended shooting 41.7 percent from the field and went 8-of-24 from three-point territory.
LMU held a 42-14 point advantage in the paint and out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 44-28 margin.
Tusculum senior Cory Fagan was held to four points but his lone field goal was a three-pointer at the 4:24 mark of the second half to extend his Tusculum record streak to 39 consecutive games with a trey.
Patterson is closing in on a personal milestone as he enters Saturday's game at Coker needing 18 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau in his collegiate career. He has scored 630 points in his 52 games at Tusculum and 352 points in his two seasons at Barton College giving him 982 for his collegiate career.
